Monday, January 27, 2014

new trampoline

he
Purchased with his birthday money!

me
A delightful spot for some early morning reading!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

books books books

he
 
He had his third (or maybe fourth?) visit to a Lifeline Bookfest. Not bad for two years of life. He's still not quite as excited as I am about this twice-yearly party (though clearly far more excited than his dad, who has a rocky love/hate relationship with the event), but he did identify quite a few books and games that were interesting to him. And he did get an orange balloon. Although he was convinced we were in London...

me

I'm slowly working my way through four books at the moment, because they are all wonderful and I am indecisive.

Friday, January 24, 2014

old friends

he
A lovely morning with some of his oldest, bestest friends!

me
For our 14th wedding anniversary we put him to bed, left our housemates in charge, and popped out for cheesecake. Gosh I love cheesecake. And gosh I love being married to my bestest old friend.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

packing everything into one room

he
 
How fun does this room look? He managed to squeeze almost all of his doll/tiny furniture, and all of his dinosaurs, into one room in the toy house. 

me


When a trip is imminent, whatever the destination, the spare room doubles as 'packing room' as we gather everything that needs to come with us. This was last week's camping packing mountain which grew daily and then quickly erupted and disappeared into the Corollacoaster.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

surf club lunch

he
Outdoor tables at Sunshine Beach Surf Club, loveliest view, colouring-in and crayons. Chips. Awesome.

me
$5 cocktails on Sundays! It felt like such a treat after camping all weekend.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

camping

he
  

 He'll happily tell you all about "Camping at Noosa Beach and sleeping in a tent." So nice! Such great cousin time, grandies time, aunties/uncle time. And rides on a ferry. And a big lizard. And a kangaroo. And a crab. And lots of potty success. And tent-sleeping success. And LOTS of digging. 

me
 
Gosh. So lovely. What a great weekend! Walks on the beach. Night strolls. Gorgeous views. Easy, tasty food. No rush. Great company. Fun Christmas present exchanging and stockings. It's been too many years since I've slept in a tent. Hopefully less years until the next time.

CAMPING FLASHBACK! Wind back your clocks to the early 80s. Camping in care bear tracksuits (mine's Cheer Bear), which I'm pretty sure my Mom made for my sis and I, at Alice Springs Caravan Park. I was in Year 2. Is this the most amazing tent in the world? (I HAVE been camping since this trip.)

we
Some time back, we all decided to plan a belated Christmas camping trip (since Auntie was away in NYC for actual Christmas) and it couldn't have been nicer.

Monday, January 20, 2014

5-minute icecream

he
 He was confused and excited when we started shaking and throwing a very cold formula tin around the lounge room. And, largely deprived of desserts for the majority of his two years of life, he could NOT believe his luck when we opened the tin, gave him a spoon and let him dig in with the rest of us.

me
I have a new Ice Cream Friend. An old friend, but the title is new. She came for lunch last week, and we decided to be terribly decadent (and a teeny bit lazy) and begin with the fresh, homemade chai ice cream which she had, minutes ago, finished whipping up in a borrowed machine at her place, rather than preparing and eating a salad first. Obviously, we didn't get around to the salad. At dinnertime (we did also eat curry) we tried something ice creamy she'd recently read about. We put milk, vanilla and sugar in a zip-lock bag, put it into a big tin of ice and salt, and threw it back and forth for 5 minutes. We were still skeptical - and pleased that it had, at least, provided a fun game - until we opened it! Amazing! Just like real, proper, grown-up ice cream!

we
We plan to do this regularly, once he's a little bigger!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

celebrations

he
He's TWO!!! A wonderful day full of playing, eating, parent/Grandparent/Auntie/housemate/friend love, no clothes (apart from blink-and-you'll-miss-it shirt-wearing, just for the photo), skype chats, dinosaur cake and a kind friend to help blow out the candles.

me
I helped to organise a hen's night for my downstairs housemate on Saturday night, bollywood themed, with lots of colourful saris, a curry feast and Indian snacks, henna, a dance instructor, bollywood tunes playing throughout the night and, of course, a dodgy bollywood movie projected in the back yard at the end of the night.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

back to normal

he
After the awesome holiday season, it was nice to spend a week doing 'normal' things around our home. He spent a morning swimming, playing and snacking with neighbourhood friends.

me
Back to our local Sunday markets after a few weeks away. It was very quiet (our 3 favourite breakfasts weren't there, and neither were our coffee boys or juice people) but so refreshing.

Monday, January 13, 2014

cutting out shapes

he

 
He was adamant that it was play dough (it was cookie dough) which is almost correct, except that he thought it was okay to squish the shapes once they had been carefully cut!

me
Some friends and I had a bunty bunty bunting-making party - we're making HUNDREDS of metres of it for our housemates' wedding. The triangle-cutting was a communal affair (this was really fun - it involved gelati and chocolates); the sewing will be happening at our own machines, in our own time.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

street party

he
He thought it was very special to post invitations in letterboxes, but wasn't thrilled that he wasn't supposed to remove the candy canes first.

me
We've been meaning to do it for the past few Christmases - even bought candy canes to include with invitations a year ago, but never got around to actually making or delivering decorations. But we finally did it! Just before we went away for Christmas a few weeks ago, we did a letter-box drop of our immediate block/neighbourhood, with candy canes (new ones, not just the ones from a year ago, I swear...) attached, in the hopes that the sweets would entice people to actually read the note. It said: "We live in your neighbourhood. We love the area and would love to get to know our neighbours better." On the day, we (and our housemates) had chairs, snacks and drinks out and were placing bets about whether anyone would actually come along (see photo). We were pleasantly (very) surprised when people did wander into our back yard! I guess there were about 20 visitors (mostly people we didn't know), as well as 5 from our own household, and people stayed for hours! It makes living here even lovelier.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

coast weekend

he

It was the first time he's been really brave in the waves. And he is ALWAYS happy to dig in sand. He had beach time with his cousin (riding on a sand tractor together, above) one afternoon, and with a bunch of friends after breakfast out together another morning. He had another swim with other friends in the pool at their holiday unit. And he had a lot of fun playing with Auntie's toys, talking to her fish, and helping me water her plants.

me
 
Such a treat to spend the late afternoon hours watching the day end. 
I also had a gorgeous morning cruising the great Caloundra op shops with a friend. Partly because they were air-conditioned (and it was the HOTTEST DAY ON RECORD) and partly because of the loot I collected. 

we
While his Auntie was away, making use of the school holidays and cheap flights to NYC, we made good use of her unit at the coast and the fact that B had another week off work! And our perfect timing and impeccable organisation (luck) meant that we got to catch up with lots of friends who were also holidaying at Caloundra!

Friday, January 10, 2014

potting

he
A big step to take! It must be such a strange thing for him to get his head around. He's cautious, but he's seeing some success. We did some reading which was recommended by a trusted friend (not the book pictured, although this has been read a LOT in the past 2 days, too), and I wish I'd read it earlier - It makes a lot of sense, and I think we're already (softly) hitting some hurdles which wouldn't have popped up for him a couple of months ago. It turns out he's a complete camel, who runs around in the nakey for 2-3-4 hours without needing to use the pot. Which doesn't give him many opportunities to practise each day!

me
I brought home some cuttings from my Mom's succulents at Christmas. I'm trying to be more strategic about propagating and potting them than I have in the past, although I've had a lot of success before. I just think they're so pretty!

Monday, January 6, 2014

goodbye, 2013

he
We (finally) arrived home mid-afternoon and began getting ready for our NYE party that evening! He had a great party, with lots of his little friends - including, excitingly, his best buddy who currently lives far away. For much of the evening, the kids invited themselves into our downstairs neighbours' place and made their own party there. He loved wandering up to the top of our hill to watch the fireworks, "I saw a light show!" and soon after we got back home he asked to go to bed. All tuckered out. Party animal!

me
The night really felt as if it had two distinct parts - the kiddie part and the later part (which were both just lovely). Highlights were spending time with old and new-ish friends, live Irish jig music (thanks to gorgeous and talented friends) with a bit of everybody-up heel and toe polka, friends' homemade tasty food (gazpacho, guacamole, muffins, quiche...), some improvisational singing about 2013 and our traditional New Years' resolution game at midnight (though - not for the first time - we missed the ACTUAL moment of midnight as we were engrossed in the game...)! Above are the resolutions I pulled out of the 'hat'.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

tow truck

he 
 BEST DAY EVER!!!
1. He saw his Radelaide family.
2. He watched planes and funny trucks at the airport.
3. He flew on a big airplane.
4. His lovely friend picked us up.
5. He rode in a massive REAL TOW TRUCK!!!
6. He played on a playground while the tyre was being replaced.
7. He had lots of friends over for a party!

me

 I felt:
- A teeny bit scared when the tyre blew, since we were in the tunnel and couldn't get out of the car, and there were cars driving fast in our lane and past us.
- Impressed with the quick response from the tunnel fairies! Within a minute, our lane was blocked off, and there were announcements on the radio about an "incident" (that's us!). Then two big trucks arrived to rescue us and the corollacoaster.
- Totally excited to ride in the tow truck!

we
We were grateful that everything was okay, and grateful for the "Helping Man" (even though he didn't take us all the way home - just to the closest park so that little guy could play while they replaced the tyre.)